herald The

The life and work of Harcourt Memorial United Church, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

November 2018

All Things Christmas

Best Year Ever

Coming Up!!

Rembering Our Own

and Others

How Harcourt

Cares

And Much More…

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November 2019

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Cover photo: Wiki Commons

The Ministers’ Quill

Story - Three Small Rooms https://torontolife.com/food/restaurants/top-10-moments-in-toronto-restaurants-jen-agg-susur-lee-david-chang/

by Jim Ball

The Windsor Arms is a boutique hotel located in the heart of Toronto. It is nestled between the University of Toronto campus and the trendy section of Bloor Street that features high end shops. When I was a university student a hundred years ago, the basement level of the hotel housed a little restaurant. The restaurant was called “Three Small Rooms.” It was called “Three Small Rooms” because it had only three small rooms. Three tiny spaces for people to visit and dine. It was intimate and charming and expensive. The restaurant is gone now, a casualty of shifting economics and accessibility rules. But what has not disappeared for me is the idea of three small rooms - the metaphor of three distinguishable but interconnected spaces. As I have aged, I have come to see that there have always been such spaces in my life. The first room is dedicated to work and family. It is a room marked by action, busyness, responsibility, achievement and setback. Some people call this room the dance floor. The second room is dedicated to reflection, analysis, and evaluation. It is sometimes called the balcony. Perhaps you remember the two old Muppets in the theatre? The pair offered endless commentary on what was, and wasn’t, working on stage. Such is life in the second room. The third room is dedicated to spiritual practice. It is reserved for everything we do or don’t do to ground and renew ourselves and our relationship to others and the earth. This room is sometimes called the sanctuary. The experience of sanctuary might involve prayer. Or painting. Or a long walk. Or group singing. It is not performance. It is practice. Sanctuary involves an awareness of aloneness and connection. Sanctuary is to be so alone that God is the only witness to our existence. Paradoxically, to know this is to know that we are not alone. Sanctuary is also the experience of being so connected and grounded that we feel and know we belong. Such belonging reminds us that life is enough. And that so are we.

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The good book says that there should be six days for work and reflection. Six days for life in the first two rooms. But the seventh day is to be spent in the third room. The seventh day is to be a day of rest. A day of fairness. Of peacefulness. A day some call Sabbath. A day we set aside for sanctuary. A day not dedicated to working or evaluating but to being, rooting, reconnecting, and restoring. There are three small rooms in every life. Establishing a weekly rhythm that includes all three is hard to do. And hard to maintain. As a consequence, many people weave elements of each room into each day. Sometimes the room sizes themselves are unequal. The first is often much bigger and more demanding than the others, reducing time spent on reflection and renewal. Often it takes significant determination to expand our time in the second and third rooms. How is it for you? How is life going for you in each of the three small rooms? What disciplines or practices have you created and maintained, alone and with family, that help you preserve the integrity and purpose of the second and third rooms? And what especially helps you experience and share sanctuary? ©jmball 2019 “When opening his new restaurant at the Windsor Arms, hotelier George Minden instructed his chef to keep prime rib and shrimp cocktail off the menu—the culinary equivalent of blasphemy in a city that considered both must-haves. Initially, the masses revolted, but they soon came around to sumptuous alternatives. Three Small Rooms became the proto-foodie epicentre, and its success gave chefs licence to experiment.” (Footnote - Toronto Life, June 1, 2016).

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Three welcoming Sunday services

We offer three distinct Sunday morning services: At 9am in the Chapel, at 10:30am in the Sanctuary and MANNA service at 10:30am in the Friendship Room. Chapel service 9:00 a.m. The Chapel service features prayers, readings, singing, and a message. It is quiet and meditative. There is no choir or special children’s program. Tea and coffee are served following the service, and some participants gather for additional guided reflection. Sanctuary service 10:30 a.m. The Sanctuary service closely follows the Chapel service, but also includes the Harcourt choir with piano and guitar accompaniment, and occasionally the handbell choir and flutes. Nursery support is provided in the nursery from 10am until 12 noon. Tea and coffee are served in the gym after the service. MANNA 10:30 a.m. downstairs in the Friendship Room Is a new, friendly, all-ages, interactive,

alternative worship experience that involves hands-on activities and sharing.

Check out the website for more information: www.harcourtuc.ca

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By Lorraine Holding, Council Chair

Harcourt’s Purpose: To welcome and strengthen in community all who wish to serve God’s world and follow the way of Jesus.

My thoughts this month grow from a busy week – Council’s meeting on October 16 and

the Congregational Meeting on October 20.

At the Congregational Meeting, Harcourt made the significant decision, in principle, to move to flexible seating in the lower level of the Sanctuary. An amendment to the proposed motion once again acknowledges that there is much work still to be done as implementation recommendations are prepared for congregational approval.

What other reflections do I have about the meeting? I observed people physically leaning into their small groups and speaking calmly during the time of holy listening. During the decision-making discussion, the comments, questions and concerns were thoughtfully expressed. There were moments of laughter. The final vote was visually significant in favour of the amended motion. We are mindful of those who did not support the motion or who abstained from voting. We are mindful of those who could not attend or chose not to participate.

What happens next? Now the detailed work begins, building on the research that the Ad Hoc Seating Committee already accumulated. We need PEOPLE to come forward in the next few weeks to offer your time, energy and expertise to continue the planning. Here are two opportunities as a start.

• An Implementation Committee to work out all capital and operations costing, timing, staffing implications and a recommended choice of seating that considers cost, comfort, mobility concerns, ease of set up, take down and storage.

• A Fundraising Committee to develop and implement a plan to address all of Harcourt’s financial needs, including any other related decisions, rebuilding the Property Pillar, or other resource and stewardship needs.

Council News

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Please contact me or any member of Council about which aspect of this work sparks an

interest and sense of call to you to become more deeply involved in moving forward. Obviously, this project will take effort to act on our commitment. We will continue to listen for the Spirit, guiding us to live out our Purpose and Core Values together. Now, back to Council’s October meeting.

• We took time to reflect on our learnings about community engagement during Sonya Wu-Winter’s short contract with Harcourt. We have learned more about risk-taking, and the importance of aligning motivation and mutual ‘positives’ among partners. We discussed budgeting implications for 2020.

• We received a request from the Guelph United Ministries (GUM) management circle, and approved a motion that Harcourt Council affirms that a project manager, Rev. Dr. Paul Miller who is familiar with the GUM process to date, be hired for January to June 2020. His work with the governing body of the four individual congregations will further the next steps identified from the ‘Conversations for Change’ process: A moving forward vision to help us see the ‘big picture’; a governance strategy to lead the process; a communications strategy to ensure effective communication of results and church activities across the city. The hiring will be funded from the GUM monies held in trust by Trinity United.

• We discussed events to interact with the congregation about opportunities to serve on Council, committees and teams. Watch for the first occasion on November 24.

With faith and hope, we move forward within Harcourt and externally, listening to what God is calling us to do.

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COMMITTEE AND GROUP NEWS

New Books in the Library! You’ll Love Them! by Mary-Lou Funston

For this issue I’m presenting the new books in the library.

We have several new books in the library, covering a range of topics. To those who

contributed them, thank you. Your contributions are appreciated! As usual, the new books

will be displayed on the top shelves of the appropriate sections.

For those of you who are historians – particularly of Christianity –the following tome will

be an interesting read.

* CHRISTIANITY The First Three Thousand Years Diarmaid MacCulloch 230 MAC

“...it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following

the three main strands of the Christian faith.”

The Holocaust of the second world war still resonates in the present day. The following

two small volumes, a memoir and a novel based on experience, help us to understand the

legacy.

* THE BOY ON THE WOODEN BOX Leon Leyson BIO LEY

“Not even the scariest of fairy tales could have prepared me for the monsters I would

confront while just a boy often...”

* MY MOTHER’S SECRET J.L. Witterick FIC WIT

A novel based on the true story of how her mother’s family hid more than one Jewish

family from the Nazis.

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And finally, three volumes inviting us to examine our own lives.

* THE NOTICER Andy Andrews 170.4 AND

A tale in which an old drifter in a small town meets local residents. In conversation

his wisdom and perspective bring about change.

* HOLY ENVY Finding God in the Faith of Others Barbara Brown Taylor 211 TAY

“...we discover the spiritual riches God can teach us from the faith of others.”

* RE-DESIGNING YOUR LIFE: A practical spirituality for the second half of Life

S.M. Macgregor 269 MAC

Just as the title suggests, this is a useful guide, particularly if you are approaching

retirement or newly retired. It helps to answer the question “Now what do I want to do with

my life?”

A Report from the Property Committee

by Ben Fear

The Property Committee thanks this group of experts who bravely came to the Harcourt

Memorial Gardens and ever so carefully trimmed the vegetation and placed some in

safekeeping for reappearance in other forms and shapes in the near future at “ALL THINGS

CHRISTMAS”. Overseeing the

work was Property Committee

Chair Dave Hume. A new

wrinkle to pruning was

introduced “The Pruner’s

Snack” which in the future, no

doubt, will be a popular as the

“Ploughman’s Lunch”.

Photo by Sarah Lowe

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More Quick Notes from the Property Committee

by Dave Hume, Chair

Thanks again to the volunteers who showed up for fall cleanup. The gardens got

trimmed. There are new yew trees along the outside of the Friendship Room. There was a

large branch of a Norway Maple that was removed before it fell on Peter Robinson’s truck in

the parking lot. Lots got done!

On another note, Property has required that no reservations for space in the Friendship

or kitchen are to begin before 12:30 on Sunday afternoons. The Property Committee would

also like to extend that rule, as far as the Friendship Room is concerned, to other church

groups, please, so that Manna folks can meet and visit after church.

Men’s Group to Hear About a Great Adventure by Bill Lord

In May 2018, Elizabeth Bone and Jerry Daminato left Guelph for a 5-month trip to the

north and west to see more of our amazing Canada. They travelled with "Flat Jesus" who

helped record their adventures in the form of pictures which are posted on the Harcourt

Facebook page. The *only* road to the Arctic Ocean was completed less than a year earlier

and one of their goals was to reach that remote part of Canada in Tuktoyaktuk NWT. All men

and women are welcome to join Jerry and Elizabeth on this cultural adventure as they share

their experiences with First Nation communities, other Canadians, beautiful vistas and

experiences along the way. Ted Sefton will have coffee and tea ready at 7:45 a.m., the

meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. Murray Woods will be the leader. In your date book please

record the date of December 11, 2019 for our next meeting.

Photo by Hilary Lewis

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Remembering Jean Wright

by John Buttars

At the celebration marking Jean’s retirement from ministry at Harcourt Memorial United

Church in June of 1999 I was asked to say something and was totally taken by surprise by how

emotional I was. So, just to tell you that 20 years later the emotion is still there. I seem to be

like my Grandpa Bailie who got more emotional the older he got.

Jean and I worked together for exactly 9 years and ten months, a decade in our lives

shared in some quite remarkable ways. We both began our times somewhat battered by

previous experiences, Jean in her previous church and me by some events in Harcourt and in

the wider church that actually shook me to the core. Remember, we began our time together

in September 1989, just after the bruising years in the United Church over “the issue,”

homosexuals and ordination.

Jean danced into our lives with vibrancy, creativity and a sense of fun. That first

Hallowe’en she suggested the staff needed some pepping up so why not dress up and go out

to lunch. She put on a lovely Pocahontas dress and I squeezed into the snowman costume my

daughter had made while she was at home during the high school teachers’ strike. I can’t

remember what the other staff wore but I was none too comfortable that lunch. However,

pretty soon Jean and I were going out on Hallowe’en every year in those costumes with the

church offering plates loaded with candy, giving it away to congregational members. We put

together a list of people in the congregation who had served significantly or who had had a

difficult year and off we went. Many people, seeing an offering plate, could not help

themselves but instinctively reached into their pockets for some money and they had a

terrible time taking the goodies.

Jean’s creativity was especially directed to the children and youth of the congregation.

She felt that young people passing into the world of being teenagers should have a rite of

passage so she dreamed up the yearly Rattlesnake event which she corralled Harvey into

helping. We camped at Rattlesnake Conservational Area on a late April or early May Friday

night and then on Saturday walked down the escarpment and up again to Crawford Lake and

then down and back up to our tents and home by Saturday supper. It was a challenging hike.

One cold April as we were setting up our tents, I discovered that plans had changed. I was to

be in my tent with a dad and his son but the boy protested. No way was he going to stay in

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the same tent as the minister. So, I squeezed in with Jean and Harvey, Harvey in the centre,

Jean on one side, me on the other, the three of us bundled up with tuques and mitts in our

sleeping bags. So, just how many of you have shared a night with Jean and Harvey Wright?

I am not sure if you would call that night a moment of intimacy but ministry is saturated

with intimate moments, times when people share a bit of their lives, a bit of their vulnerability

just as I did with Mary yesterday in preparation for this service, telling her through my tears

why I was so emotional about Jean. We shared in weddings and funerals, in many marriage

enrichment events with Cathy Magee, in some shared spiritual direction, in intense

conversations, in supervision of students. And Jean was a woman of prayer and prayer is also

about intimacy. Sometimes the bonding that happened between the two of us triggered quite

unexpected things. One occasion, I was at a meeting in Kingston. I left around 3 pm or so and

drove the 300+ kilometers to Guelph, through Toronto traffic and arrived at the church for a

7:30 pm gathering for families where a teen was considering being part of the confirmation

process. Without any supper, I was bushed. There was a set of grandparents there, people I

had never met so I walked up to them and said, “Hi! I’m John Wright. I mean, I mean…,”

spluttering something or other. But that Freudian slip told me just how bonded I felt to my

colleague in ministry.

I don’t think I ever heard Jean describe herself as a feminist but she definitely was a

woman in ministry and she expected to be treated as such, an equal. On this score I am

deeply in her debt for although I was raised by a mom and dad, both of whom worked outside

of the home and had their own careers, I still grew up in the 1950’s and I had been trained to

be a Lone Ranger minister. I had no idea how many little assumptions I had hidden away in my

psyche about male/female relations until they started to tumble out in my working with Jean.

Jean could be quite decisive, direct in her comments. Like when, after my being away

for a three-month sabbatical, she welcomed me back but said she had enjoyed my being away

too. She was also patient and compassionate in ministry. I was a beneficiary of those qualities

because in January of 1993 one of our children began the arduous process of coming out,

naming how she was not whom she had assumed she was. Twenty-five years ago, it was the

general assumption that when a child came out of the closet as gay or lesbian or

transgendered the parent went into the closet. And I went into the closet where it was

extraordinarily lonely, dark and a place of fear and paranoia. Jean opened a window in that

closet even though it may have been stretching her understandings and assumptions and that

is why I was so emotional at her retirement because it was then the penny dropped and I

named the reality that she had been my minister, our family’s minister, a blessed servant of

Christ, there for me in my loneliness and distress, there for all of us as a family.

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The decade we worked together was challenging in many ways but I think both of us

thrived. And then she was gone, Jean and Harvey creating a new home here at Three Willows

and living a new life. After a weird message was left on my phone, I knocked on their door just

days after Judy died and since then Jean, Harvey and I have shared visits mostly at St. Joseph’s.

In those visits, Jean and Harvey have blessed me with one more thing although this time it has

been Harvey taking the lead. To live long enough is to live with diminishments, our brain, our

bones, our heart, lungs, mobility, on and on, bodily organs and processes no longer

functioning the way they once did. We become smaller, less able. It is a hard process, painful,

debilitating and most of us have firsthand acquaintance with this reality. As I have visited with

Jean and Harvey, a biblical phrase has emerged, “grace and truth.” That phrase comes from

John 1 and it speaks of Jesus but for me, Jean and Harvey have lived these last years with grace

and in truth and I have been the blessed beneficiary of their doing things just the best they

knew how and with the capabilities that they had but it has been grace filled and truthful.

When Jean retired, she gave me this plaque, two kids, baseball players with their arms

around each other. A note on the back says (and I will give Jean the last word), “A visual

reminder of a “team effort.” As an end of the J&J era approaches it is with a deep

intermingling of joy and grief. The years have been rich. Leaving is hard, but remembering will

bring delight. Thanks, Jean.”

All Things Christmas – Looking for Elves!

by Janet Webster

Planning for the 2019 sale of greenery and other seasonal items is underway. We hope

that many of you will find ways to contribute to this major fundraising event. Mark your

calendars for November 21, 22 and 23rd! The sale is open to the public on Saturday

November 23 from 9:30 to 1:30.

On Thursday and Friday many hands are needed to prepare bundles of greenery, cut

pieces for the creative arrangers, set up displays and generally "assist". THIS IS WHERE YOU

ELVES COME IN!!!

The Friendship Room will once again offer a range of "treasures" such as serving pieces,

decorations, china and crystal (but not garage sale goods); also, jewellery as well as delicious

baking, candy, preserves etc.

Please consider coming out on the preparation days, Thursday or Friday. This is when

we create indoor centrepieces, mantle decorations, and outdoor arrangements. Come for

whatever time you are available whether an hour or a day to help prepare the bits and pieces

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that go into the final sale items. We prepare teasels, cones, milk weed pods, "picks"

(ornaments on sticks to be inserted into the arrangements) and many other seasonal ideas.

One year, a popular pot included a broken snow shoe. Do you have a pair of older skates,

snowshoes, child skis that would make a unique porch arrangement?

A huge part of our success (financial and popularity) are the bundles of greenery that

the do-it- yourself decorators who attend the sale really appreciate. This does not require a

designer's eye, just a willingness to spend some time trimming and bundling while visiting and

laughing with others. Customers love the variety and convenience of our greenery. We usually

sell out long before the sale ends. About a week before the sale a group will meet to fill the

pots with soil in readiness for the designers. Please watch for announcements of the date.

In summary, here is what we need:

--Items suitable for the treasures room, new or nearly new serving pieces, decorative

items, jewelry etc.

--skewers or dowels (longer ones) to make the decorative picks

--treats for the bake table

--large (8-10 inch) plastic pots (washed please)

--leftover potting soil

--shrub and coniferous tree branches (especially white pine, English Oak)

If you plan to trim your shrubs, why not wait until November, a few days before the

sale? BUT each year someone donates something we had not previously thought of, such as

snowshoes and we usually find ways to re-purpose it into a creative piece.

Sign-Up Genius and posters will be available so that you can let us know of your

willingness to help. If you have any ideas or questions please contact Janet Webster,

fwebst0953@rogers.com or 519-821-0953

Graphic by Pixabay

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Attention All Harcourt Bakers! by Heather Hoeg

It's time once again to start thinking about all our special

holidays recipes. Those special cookies, cakes, jams, shortbread,

squares, and more cookies that you love to share! The All Things

Christmas Bake Table has been such a success in the past! We need

your generous donations once again! Baked goods can be dropped off

in the kitchen on Friday November 22nd, or before 9:00 am on

November 23rd. Any questions, please call Heather Hoeg at 519-265-

5956. Or email Heather at hoeg@rogers.com

Remembering….

You may or may not have heard the term: “Thankful Villages (also known as Blessed Villages or in Welsh: Pentrefi Diolchgar). These villages are settlements in England and Wales from which all their members of the armed forces survived World War I. The term Thankful Village was popularised by the writer Arthur Mee in the 1930s who wrote that a Thankful Village was one which had lost no men in the Great War because all those who left to serve came home again. His initial list identified 32 villages.

In an October 2013 update, researchers identified 53 civil parishes in England and Wales from which all serving personnel returned. There are no Thankful Villages identified in Scotland or Ireland yet (all of Ireland was then part of the United Kingdom).

Fourteen of the English and Welsh villages are considered "doubly thankful", in that they also lost no service personnel during World War II. These are marked with a (D) in the list below (note: while the list includes 17 of these, not all have been verified)”. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thankful_Villages

An Interesting Fact…

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Remembering Our Own

On November 11th, 2019, we remember those soldiers who died in the line of duty. Below we

re-publish brief descriptions of the members from Brooklyn Mission, our founding church,

who died in the First and Second World Wars. These names are listed in a document written

by Mrs. G.C. Ashton in 1975 entitled: The Story of Brooklyn Sunday School – Harcourt

Memorial United Church, 1887-1975 which is in the Harcourt Church archives. More detailed

information about these soldiers was obtained through Library and Archives Canada, Guelph

Public Library’s Cenotaph Database and Ancestry.com

Lance Corporal James Hamilton was born in Glasgow, Scotland on December 24th,

1891. Prior to enlisting in the army when he was 22 years old, he lived in Guelph at 72

Hearn Ave and worked as a carpet weaver. His enlistment papers state that he

was 5 feet 6 inches tall and he was active in the local militia. L.Cpl. Hamilton enlisted

on September 16, 1914. During his service in Europe, LCpl. Hamilton was attached to

the 1st Battalion. He was “Killed in Action” on June 18, 1915 and is buried in the

Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France.

Gunner Albert N. Norrish was with the 1st Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery. He

was born in Guelph, Ontario and resided at 72 Bedford St. His occupation was a

Spinner. Albert enlisted on November 6th, 1916. He was killed by shrapnel on

October 2nd, 1918 at age 19 and buried in Duisans British Cemetery in Etrun,

France.

Pilot Officer Alan MacNeiley Laughland, D.F.M. R.C.A.F. Son of James and Florence

Laughland of Guelph, Ontario. Age 21. Member of the 617 Sqadron. Alan was awarded

the Distinguished Flying Medal. He died on November 18, 1943 and is buried at

Runnymede Memorial Cemetery in Surrey, England.

William Howard Geddes was born on February 27, 1923 and was the son of William

and Myrtle Geddes of Guelph, Ontario. Service files of the Second World War show

that William served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Pilot Officer.

He was killed during air operations on May 29, 1944. There is a street in Guelph

named after him – Geddes Crescent.

Flying Officer Alexander George Borland. Royal Canadian Air Force. He was a member

of the 416th Sqadron. He was the son of John and Jessie Borland of Guelph. He died

on Christmas Day, 1944 at the age of 21 years old and he is buried in England at The

Runnymede Memorial Part II Cemetery in England. There is a street named after him –

Borland Drive.

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Others Remembered

The Memory Project Excerpt from Veteran Stories:

Corinne Kernan Sévigny, Canadian Army

http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/25:corinne-kernan-sevigny/

Apart from being a maid, good dancer, nurse, operator, servant, cook, do you know of any other things a woman could do before the war? Women were simply not holding any extraordinary, serious or centrally complex jobs. It just wasn’t done! We had the responsibility of proving that women could take on important responsibilities at any time. Today, it is common to see woman at the helm of huge corporations. It wasn’t conceivable that a woman could be anything higher than a secretary. That was the highest possibility. At the beginning, they thought that we knew nothing. When we finished our courses, courses on vehicle maintenance, mechanical courses, which we were obliged to know, we knew the difference between a wheel and other wheels in the vehicle, and they had to accept that we were able to learn the codes, decoding and coding, yes! We learned it all.

Afghanistan Veteran Brought Home Reality of War at Rockwood Service Excerpt from Wellington Advertiser https://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/afghanistan-veteran-brought-home-reality-of-war-at-rockwood-service-on-nov-5/

Rick Moyer is one of 31,000 men and women in the Canadian Forces and civilian personnel that served in Afghanistan over the past 10 years.

“War is not glorious,” Moyer said. “The soldiers of the First World War, the Second World War, Korea and now Afghanistan know this. It is dust and dirt. It is loneliness and loss. It is heartache and longing.”

Moyer added, “It is also, sadly, something that will not soon leave us.”

…At the Nov. 5 Rockwood service he said his deployment to Kandahar represented the opportunity for him to put his years of training to use – like many a soldier – into Canada’s first major war effort in the last 50 years.

“It was an honour to serve, but of course serving in situations like that comes with a price,” Moyer said.

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He added for himself and his family, “the daily knowledge of harm, or worse, that could come my way was a reality.”

…He asked residents to continue to support those soldiers as the community of Guelph-Eramosa and the city of Guelph supported him and his family over the past year.

“Keep them in your prayers, and always on this (remembrance) day in particular, remember those who have not come home,” he said.

The Memory Project Excerpt from Veteran Stories: Frank Tomkins, Canadian Army

…”Two of my brothers were code-talkers during the war, the early part of the war. This American officer approached my brother Charles and of course asked a few questions as to how many Cree-speaking and English-speaking people that he knew that were veterans. And of course he named my brother Peter and there were a few others from his hometown that he knew.

…The American army of course were the ones that were really interested in code-talkers and what they were used for in the early part of the war was they were placed—first they did a little bit of training, you know, how to interpret certain types of aircraft and stuff. And then they were placed at different airports and then they'd send a message in Cree—how many aircraft, what kinda aircraft was going to be going on this bombing run in England and of course the party on the other end would translate it back into English”. For an audio version of Frank Tompkins full story visit http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/2752:frank-tomkins/

Photo by Pixabay

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The Church Garden Corner by Sarah Lowe

This is a new regular feature for the Harcourt Herald by Sarah and friends that tells us a

bit about what’s happening in our beautiful garden throughout the year.

Late October

Most of us have usually tucked in our gardens for the winter by the end of October. This

year it feels too early, as we haven’t had a hard frost yet and several flowers are still blooming.

When our volunteers did the Church garden fall trimming and cleanup on October 19th we

couldn’t possibly cut back everything!

Until the frost comes, you will still see two late-blooming species: the Flowering Tobacco

plant, in the narrow beds along the south and east walls of the church, with its heady, sweet

scent noticeable in the evening; and lots of cheerful orange Blanket Flowers along the south

wall of the church, facing Dean avenue. It’s worth a walk round the building to take a look.

Also, the showy dried heads of hydrangeas in the Celebration Garden are still green. We have

cut many of them for the All Things Christmas Sale, before they turn brown. But much more

obvious are the shrubs and trees! They’ve now turned a spectacular fall colour, with lots of red

tones, thanks to the excellent growing season this summer and fall. A red maple (possibly

hybrid) planted almost 10 years ago by Jim Ball beside the driveway has turned a brilliant red

this year. What a joyful welcome to Harcourt as you approach from Dean Avenue!

My “pick of the month” in the Celebration garden outside the sanctuary is the Burning

Bush right outside the narthex door. It is named for its brilliant fall colour which makes it look

as if it is on fire! It has turned a brilliant crimson, and grows beside a dark maroon Japanese

Maple tree. What a show! The Burning Bush has two-toned crimson/orange fruit, which the

birds are loving. The species is also called Winged Euonymus (Euonymus alatus) and originally

hails from Asia. It is not related to the “burning bush” described in Exodus, which tradition has

it was growing on Mount Sinai. That may have been a bramble relative, thought this is in some

doubt (worth a sermon some time perhaps?).

Growing up in Scotland, I adored the

lovely autumn show of yellow and bronze

from birch, larch and beech. Now it is the fall

red and orange colours that thrill me. I

wonder what plant inspires you most this

time of year?

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How Harcourt Cares

The purpose of this series is to explore some of the ways that members of

Harcourt care for other members of our Church and beyond. This month Stan

Bunston and Joan Bowland provide some information on the topic. If you

have a suggestion of people or groups at Harcourt who serve the greater

community through caring please e-mail the suggestion to

theherald@harcourtuc.ca

Stan Bunston and the Duet Cycling Program

In 2012 after retirement, Stan started to look for ways that he could contribute to the

quality of life of older people in the local community. He had heard about a Duet bicycling

program at Wellington Terrace

Nursing Home in Fergus and

decided that this might be

something he could do in

Guelph. A Duet bicycle is a

tandem bike that is engineered

for ease of accessibility and for

stability for both the passenger

and the rider. The result is a low

and gentle ride for the resident.

The initial challenges

seemed, at first, to be daunting.

How could he do this on his

own? What about insurance

and safety issues? Fortunately,

Riverside Glen was familiar with

the Fergus Duet Cycling model

and they had purchased a Duet bike. Volunteer Dan Feys at Riverside Glen trained Stan on this

special bike and thus began a joyful experience both for Stan and his co-riders. Although the

program started out to support residents in the long-term care facility, people from the

retirement community at Riverside Glen are now also included as passengers.

There are challenges when you have an adult on the front of the bike, which are

mechanically met through the bike’s sophisticated engineering. Volunteer training is rigorous,

23

covering important issues like safety, such as how to fasten the seat belt straps properly and

learning how to drive the bike itself with someone in front. Early on Stan relied on the Duet

Bike instruction manual which includes drawing attention to weight limits. Transferring the

resident onto the bike safely is also an important concern. Sometimes the resident is not

physically able to transfer onto the bike her/himself and Stan appreciates that the staff

members at Riverside Glen transfer passengers who need assistance in and out of the bike for

safe operation. There is always someone keen to go riding. However, sometimes a resident

who would benefit from a fresh air ride needs a staff member to encourage them to go. Stan

says residents always have a great time even if they were initially hesitant.

The program has now expanded to involve staff members as well as volunteers to act as

bike operators and a schedule is regularly drawn up of who will participate on a given day.

However, during the summer months Stan usually goes to Riverside Glen on Wednesday

and/or Thursday mornings from 10 to 12 on a good weather day. Regardless of what the

weather holds in store, the resident is always prepared – with sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen, a

jacket or whatever else is needed. Stan’s route through Riverside Park across the street from

the facility is fairly consistent: Across the street at the traffic light, riding beside the river, past

the children’s railway, down to the flower garden and back. There is so much beauty and

nature to behold on the 30-40 minute journey. Sometimes the two riders chat and sometimes

there is silence. Stan recalls a favourite memory of a sweet woman resident who sang “You

are my Sunshine” with him as they cycled along. He finds it so rewarding, being an active man

who loves to run marathons etc., to find a way to get physical exercise that both he and

someone else can enjoy together. This is one way that Harcourt Cares.

Always looking for more volunteers, if you are interested in the Duet Cycling Program, Stan

suggests you contact Riverside Glen directly.

Harcourt’s Knitting Circle: An Interview with Joan Bowland

“Knit three, pearl three, knit three, pearl three.” This was the firs pattern we used as the

Prayer Shawl ministry began.

It all started in 2008 with Harcourt’s past Minister Rev. Monica Moore, who knit with the group

and led them in prayer amid the clicking of needles. We had two groups in the beginning, but now

have one, with several people knitting at home and contributing to the group. Now 6 to 8 women

meet regularly in a fellowship that is really important to each member – not only because of the items

they create for others, but for the caring and comfort they give to each other as they work.

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To date the Harcourt Knitting Circle has given out 336 shawls. Each one knit in whatever

pattern the knitter prefers. Every baby is given a white shawl when they are baptised. But it’s not

just shawls that the group creates. Following up on an idea from Jim Ball, white prayer squares were

made for the students participating in TCOW (Two Countries One World), a sponsored program to

assist people in developing countries. These were small enough to tuck into their bags to remind

them that they are loved and

special to the Harcourt

congregation. Brightly

coloured prayer squares were

also made for each member of

the Rainbow Chorus and the

Harcourt Choir. We did have

help from several members of

the congregation for this

rather large project. We have

given three Twiddle Muffs to

people with dementia. These muffs with decorations like buttons, lace, fluffy balls etc., inside and

out, have been found to be calming.

The letters and verbal thank you’s we get from recipients of the shawls, squares and muffs

show the joy they bring and how meaningful these beautiful creations are – something that holds true

for both the knitter and receiver. Some shawls left behind by people who have died continue to be

meaningful and cherished by family members.

When the shawls are given out, two members go together to deliver them. The shawl is wrapped

around the shoulders of the recipient and a prayer is shared. The Ministers sometimes take a shawl

when visiting too. We rely on Church members to let us know if there is someone they know who

should be receiving a shawl.

Although the shawls are a comfort to those who are ill or sad, they are given in celebration as

well. For example, Joan once worked with a trained Chaplain at Homewood who was a Mennonite.

When she married and moved away, she asked Joan if the group would knit her a prayer shawl to take

with her. The most unusual request came from someone in Newfoundland. Joan has no idea how the

person heard about Harcourt’s Prayer Shawls, but the knitters and former Office Administrator Anne

Purkis covered the mailing costs. The recipient was overjoyed to receive such a meaningful gift. Many

shawls have gone out into the community and beyond. Some have even gone outside of Canada to

loved ones of Harcourt’s members. This is one way that Harcourt Cares.

The group is always looking for others to join the Knitting Circle. If you have an interest, please

contact the Church Office for more information. However, if you enjoy knitting and would like to

make a prayer shawl of your own, you are also welcome to place the completed item in one of the

two bins located in the cupboard across from the Chapel.

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Minute for Mission

Answering the Call

Our gifts for Mission & Service support theological education in seven theological

schools, including Emmanuel College in Toronto, Ontario. Aside from The United Church of

Canada ministry training degrees, Emmanuel College offers interfaith programs in Muslim

studies and Buddhist studies. These programs have created a more enriched program of study

and diversity in the student population. Here is the story of one of these students: Captain

Barbara Helms was enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces as a chaplain of the Muslim

tradition in October 2017. She will be serving with the 30th Field Artillery Regiment (33

Canadian Battle Group, 4th Canadian Division). She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry

degree specializing in Muslim chaplaincy, offered through the University of Toronto, the

Toronto School of Theology, and Emmanuel College.

Thanks to your gifts to Mission & Service, the college has implemented inter-faith programs such as Islamic Studies. Padre Helms has been involved in teaching, community outreach, youth ministry, hospital pastoral care, and inter-faith dialogue. She is grateful for the opportunity to be the first female Muslim chaplain, and finds that military chaplaincy is a place where she can serve her regimental family. If Mission & Service giving is already a regular part of your life, thank you so much! If you have not given, please join me in making Mission & Service giving a regular part of your life of faith. Loving our neighbour is at the heart of our Mission & Service.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Passing:

Wright, Rev. Beverley Jean (nee Pirie) passed away at St. Joseph’s

Health Centre on Saturday, September 28, 2019, at the age of

79. Jean was the much-loved Minister of Harcourt Memorial United

Church for 9 years from September 1989 (see tribute by Rev. John

Buttars above). Beloved wife of 58 years to Harvey Wright. Loved

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mother and grandmother. During her life, Jean enjoyed camping and canoeing and

vacationing in Cuba in her retirement years. Memorial contributions to the Alzheimer Society

or Chalmers Community Services would be appreciated.

Other Announcements:

• The AED (Defibrillator) education event scheduled for October 26th has been cancelled

due to insufficient interest. Thank you. Esther Devolin.

• Members and friends of Harcourt are invited to attend the Guelph launch of Carolyn

Whitney-Brown’s new book, entitled, “Tender to the World - Jean Vanier, l’Arche and

the United Church of Canada” (see poster above). Carolyn is friend to several in the

Harcourt community and is delighted to be able to share her recent work with us. The

event will take place at Harcourt, beginning at 3:00 pm, on Wednesday, November 13.

Sure to be a wonderful event! Blessings! Jim

• MANNA Movie Night 5:30pm November 1st at the Church.

• Inshallah, Luther’s 130+ voice community choir concert - singing gratitude and seeking justice. Free-will donation in support of All Nations Grand River Water Walk. Sponsored by: Harcourt Memorial United Church, KAIROS Guelph and Knox Presbyterian Church, Guelph. 4 p.m. November 3rd at Harcourt Church.

• Junior Youth Group Friday November 15, 7:00pm, High School Youth Group Sunday November 17th 7 p.m.

• KW Symphony Concert Christmastide – A Baroque Christmas. The popular concert from the 2017/18 season returns with a new program and the same magic of Baroque Christmases gone by. Delight in the sights and sounds of yesteryear as music by Vivaldi, Corelli, Manfredini and others fill the hall. Harcourt Church Friday, November 22nd, 8 p.m.

• Guelph Youth Singers Winter Concert. Harcourt Church Saturday, November 30th, 7 p.m.

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Behind the Scenes

The Engbergs as Earth Keepers - Part 2

(see Part 1 of Lila Engberg’s memoirs in the August Harcourt Herald) by Lila Engberg With Ann Middleton

In 1923, God gave me life. ME – Lila! I WAS BORN.

I was born at home with the help of a local midwife as were my three brothers. And

here I am at age 96 recording our early life on the farm. My brother Bob will help me

remember our story. He was born in 1928 and is age 91. The life on the farm was all I knew

until I moved to Edmonton to attend Normal School in 1941.

At Home in the 1920s & 30s

Although we had no electricity, piped water or indoor plumbing, only the outdoor

latrine and the use of the old Eaton’s catalogue for toilet paper, I was happy. In our farm

house in the evening we used coal oil lamps for light. The lamp in the kitchen hung in a bracket

above the table. Occasionally Dad lit the Aladdin lamp on the dining room table or the gas

lamp – such brightness made it so much easier to read, do homework, or play cards and board

games.

We obtained water from a well that had been drilled near the barn for the livestock and

for us. The horse tank was filled with water for the horses, pigs, and cows. A windmill erected

near the well was a wonderful help, filling the tank on windy days. Dad carried two pails of

water one or more times daily from the well to the house for our use. One pail filled the

reservoir on the cook stove and another stood on the washstand by the door in the kitchen

with a dipper for drinking. Each of us drank from the same dipper and used the same terry

towel to get dry. We had a bath on Saturday night in a wash tub on the kitchen floor. A slop

bucket for all kitchen wastes stood on the floor near the washstand.

The wood box behind the kitchen door was kept filled by my three brothers who

brought in wood from the wood pile and coal from the coal shed near the house. We burned

both wood and coal in the kitchen stove and the heater in our dining room, the only sources of

heat. And it was cold in winter with no source of heat upstairs in our three bedrooms. There

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was no basement and no furnace. In winter the temperatures ranged from minus 30 degrees

Fahrenheit to minus 40!

When young, my brothers had no purchased toys but had fun riding trimmed tree

branches around the yard. Each branch was a horse with a name. I was warned not to touch

these “horses” when they were placed leaning against the house for safekeeping. My toy was

a doll, a gift from Aunt Esther. I loved that doll and my play corner at the top of the stairs. We

were poor but I don’t think we were aware of it, and that life could be better.

Dad said he liked farming, and he appreciated the boys’ help. He was especially glad

when they cleared the fields of gophers and the mounds left in the fields. The boys killed the

gophers by drowning or snaring them in spring, obtaining a penny reward from the local

municipal government for each tail. After harvest in the fall, I watched Dad prepare grain

seeds for planting in spring. He used the fanning mill in the granary to remove weed seeds and

chaff from oats, barley, rye and wheat (the two-storey granary is still standing in the farm

yard, painted as always in red with white trim).

I learned about crop rotation, about disking the land rather than ploughing, and about

planting alfalfa and hay for pasture. In the fall, cow and horse manure was spread on the fields

and I watched the hay being cut and stacked, dried and fork-lifted into the hay loft of the barn.

The grain was cut with a horse-drawn binder, then stoked. When the stoked grain was dry, the

local threshing crew arrived with a machine to do the threshing – separating the grain from

the straw. What excitement there was watching the crew at work, then working with the hired

girl, cooking, serving the food and washing the dishes.

I remember how thrilled the boys were when Dad bought a tractor to replace four or

five work horses for field work.

The Depression years (1930-38) were harsh years economically. Looking back, I realize

we were fortunate to be living on a farm, able to produce much of the food needed by the

family. Farms in Alberta had endured a severe drought in the 1920s, but Dad had acquired

some work horses, six or seven cows, pigs and laying hens. The land was used to grow wheat

and feed grains, and provided pasture for the horses and cattle. And we always grew potatoes

and other vegetables and picked wild berries.

Dad and Mom milked the five or six cows morning and night until my brothers were old

enough to help. They carried the pails from the barn to the house, then poured the milk

through the cloth strainer into the separator bowl. Dad turned the separator handle so fast

that centrifugal force caused the separation of the whole milk into skim milk and cream. I

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loved to watch the mystery of mysteries – cream coming out one spout, milk out another! My

job was to wash the separator disks and other parts after every use. The cream was stored in a

four-gallon tin about eight inches wide and 20 inches tall. In summer, the can of cream was

kept cool by lowering it by rope into a dug well outside the back door. Cream in the can was

stirred after every fresh addition, a very important step, Mom said.

Eventually we had extra eggs to sell to the Calmar egg grading station and cream to sell

to the creamery. Mom kept some milk and cream for our own use and enough cream to make

butter. Extra skim milk was fed to the pigs. When the can of cream was full, it was taken to the

Calmar creamery to be sold. The sale of pigs and grain was the major source of family income;

the sale of cream and eggs provided money for Mom’s household use. When six or more

families in town asked us if they could buy milk, Dad acquired some quart bottles and paper

tops from a dairy supply company and we were in business! Every morning before school, my

brothers milked the cows, filled the bottles and chilled them in a tub of cold water, then made

the deliveries. It was raw milk, but no one became ill from drinking it, not that I remember.

In the 1940s, when times were better, Dad built a new house in front of the old one

with the help of a carpenter brother-in-law. The back section of the old house was moved to

Calmar to be occupied by a family in town; the kitchen section was dismantled and moved to

make room for more garden and other buildings. Much to Mom’s delight, indoor plumbing,

electricity and natural gas for heating and cooking were installed. The first source of electricity

was a wind charger which Dad had erected in the farm yard to charge a set of batteries in the

basement

Women’s Work

In the 1930s it was my job, as the only girl in the family, to help my mother with the

housework: the laundry, cleaning, bed making and meal preparation. I set the kitchen table

two or three times a day for our meals when I was home from school, then cleared up, washed

dishes and put things away.

The kitchen was a large room with space for the table and chairs, the wood and coal-

burning cook stove and the wood box, with the cream separator in one corner and the coal

scuttle in another. There was one upright cupboard and a wash stand, no other furnishings.

The shed (former post office) off the kitchen was used for storage and as a work room in

summer. A wringer washing machine, wash tubs, pails, a barrel churn for making butter,

garden tools, some lumber and junk were stored there.

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I have two of Mom’s quilts here at Wellington Park, the retirement residence where I

live in Guelph. They remind me of her sewing and needlework skills. The one I like best is

stuffed with wool and topped with red patchwork. All the quilts on the farm were stuffed with

wool. Much later, Mom was overjoyed to learn about polyester fill and how easy the sheet of

fill was to work with, and how easy such quilts were to wash. Now I own and use a patchwork

quilt stuffed with polyester.

However, wool-filled quilts were essential in the unheated bedrooms in the farm house.

There were three bedrooms upstairs in the old house where my family lived until 1945. My

three brothers shared the big room over the kitchen, my oldest brother Dennis in one bed,

Ken and Bob in the other. My room in the north-west corner was the coldest. Mom and Dad’s

room was moderately warm (on sunny days) because of the two windows facing south. Each

of the family beds was double size. We never knew about twin, queen nor king-size beds at

that time.

Making the wool-filled quilts for each bed required hours of hard work. First Mom

obtained a fleece from a local sheep farmer. Dad carried water from the well near the barn to

the copper boiler on the kitchen stove for heating. Then Mom washed the fleece and hung it

on the garden fence to dry. Next came carding which mom did straddling a wooden plank. The

rolls of wool were placed on a sheet of fabric stretched out on a quilting frame, then covered

with a patchwork sheet. Next, the two sheets holding the wool were attached to the quilting

frame ready for hand quilting. What a job!

In our early years on the farm, I do not remember ever being short of food. My mother

baked six or more loaves of whole wheat bread every week, using flour bought at the local

flour mill where Dad sold his wheat. Mom cooked potatoes and root vegetables from our

garden – fresh in summer and in winter from our cellar. We also enjoyed canned fruit and

vegetables, and our mother’s pickles and preserves, using our farm produce (peas, beans,

rhubarb, raspberries and wild berries). In the fall, we obtained fresh fruit from B.C. There was

enough money to buy crates of peaches, plums, apricots and pears for canning, and a large

crate of apples to eat. They were all stored in our cellar, reached by way of a trap door in a

closet off the dining room. One of the jobs I hated was going down that shaky ladder with a

lantern in one hand to bring up fruits and vegetables during winter.

Mom was a good cook. Every day at dinner one of my brothers would ask “What’s for

dessert?” We always had something: stewed fruit, pudding (rice, bread, custard, baked

apples), and occasionally pie on Sunday. Dad poured cream on everything using our family

cream pitcher, which was on the table at every meal. The white jug is ironstone china made by

Wm. Adams & Sons in England, about six inches tall, with a handle that is comfortable to hold.

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Home on the farm we did not care about labels, but we liked the size and shape of the jug –

and we liked cream! After my mother died in January 1980, I brought it from her home in

Calmar to mine in Guelph. Now I use it for milk, a reminder of early days on the farm, and a

tribute to my mother.

School Days

My older brother Dennis and I attended Rose Hill School, the same one-room country

school our parents attended. We walked there summer and winter (1 ½ miles), carrying our

lunches. Later, when the new school was built on Engberg land in the village of Calmar in 1934,

I was able to walk home for lunch.

At the new school, the one and only high school teacher, Cyril Pyrcz, taught every

subject to all students enrolled in grades 10, 11 and 12. He loved music and we loved him. He

sang tenor in the Edmonton Opera Chorus, and exposed us to the classics, the arts and the

sciences. When I was in grade 12, Mr. Pyrcz asked each of us graduating students what we

would like as a career. I said I would like to be a singer. Mr. Pyrcz just shook his head!

I enjoyed school and did well so when I graduated in 1941 my parents sent me to

Normal School in Edmonton for teacher training. I was not asked whether or not I would like

to teach – I was just sent for training. Career choices for women were limited at that time and I

accepted my parents’ choice.

The cost of the one-year training and the accommodation for me in Edmonton was

beyond the financial resources available to my parents, so I was sent to live with Dad’s sister

Esther, who worked as a chambermaid in the Selkirk Hotel. She lived in one room on the

second floor of the Bradburn-Thomson Block on 101st Street, a block from the hotel. We had a

sink and running water in the room but we shared the toilet and bath at the end of the

corridor with other residents. For four months (September to December), I slept on a cot that

Dad brought from home. My parents also helped by bringing produce to us from the farm. I

carried lunch with me daily, and walked 45 minutes from 101st Street across the High Level

Bridge over the North Saskatchewan to teacher training classes in Garneau High School on the

South side.

Because of World War II, the Alberta Normal School Building farther south in Edmonton,

was used by the army. In December, we were given the option of spending the next three

months teaching in a school in Northern Alberta. Again, my parents were happy to learn that I

agreed to teach after only four months training. I could earn a salary to help pay my way when

I returned to Edmonton to complete my training – a happy accident! The country was short of

teachers because so many were in the military.

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In January 1942, I took my first train ride, arriving at Enida, north of Lesser Slave Lake at

three in the morning. I was met by Mr. Earle Moore with a horse-drawn sleigh with a caboose

on top. A fire inside kept me warm for the 20-mile trip to Salt Prairie Station, named for the

salt in the ground water. This community consisted of two houses: one was occupied by Mr.

Moore and his young family; the other was a three-room house where his mother, the

postmistress, lived. One room was the post office, the second the kitchen and dining room,

the third the bedroom. I cried when I found I would be sharing the bed with Mrs. Moore. I was

homesick and wondered where I had landed!

From Mrs. Moore’s in Salt Prairie, I walked the two miles to Silver Point School every

day, carrying my white bread sandwiches – the same lunch for six weeks. I could hardly wait to

move into the teacherage which was being built next door to the school. My class in the one-

room school was made up of 10 Metis children in grades one to six. I remember following the

“enterprise system” taught by Miss Dickie at Normal School. She advocated that teachers use

one theme to integrate learning in math, science, reading, writing and all subjects, so I began

my teaching on the theme of the Eskimo and the Arctic.

In the two- room teacherage, I had my own bed, a table, two or three benches and a

wood-burning kitchen stove. I had a pile of firewood and an axe so I could split some kindling

to get the fire started. I also had my own outhouse. Often I heard the wolves howling at night

and although I was deeply lonely, I felt safe enough alone in that house from mid-February to

the end of March.

My hospitable neighbours Jessie and Woodrow Wilson, a newly-wed couple, supplied me

with milk and eggs and had me over for supper almost every evening. Fried eggs were their

special food choice. They lived in a one-room log house, had two horses and a sleigh, and

happily took me with them to social gatherings in the Salt Prairie school, which served a

community of farm families that lived quite separate lives from the Metis, although all were

equally poor. No one had cars, electricity or indoor plumbing. Transportation was by foot or by

horse and sleigh. I was well looked after in that community.

I returned to Edmonton in April to finish the academic year, this time staying with other

relatives and working for my room and board.

After finishing her training, Lila lived at home and taught in a one-room school close to the

farm. After three more years of teaching in the area, she began a degree in Household

Economics at the University of Alberta. It was the beginning of a fulfilling career that led to a

PhD from Cornell and many years working in Africa and at the University of Guelph.

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Harcourt Calendar – November 2019 Updated October 17, 2019 – www.harcourtuc.ca for most up-to-date information

Friday November 1 8:00am Level Up Kids [202] 5:30pm MANNA Movie Night [F,K] Saturday November 2 10:00am Progressive Christianity [202] Sunday November 3 Communion 9:00am Worship Service [C] 10:30am Worship Service [S] 10:30am MANNA Service [F] 3:00pm SWESH [G] 4:00pm Inshallah Water is Life Concert [S] Monday November 4 Office Closed 1:30pm Prayer Shawl [202] 7:00pm Scouts [F] 7:00pm Communications Committee Meeting [L] Tuesday November 5 10:00am GWSA Exercise Program [G] 5:00pm U of G Choir Rehearsal [S] 6:45pm Cubs [G] 7:00pm Bell Choir [M] Wednesday November 6 9:30am Lightshine Singers [M] 1:30pm Tai Chi [F] 6:30pm Guides [F] 6:45pm Beavers [G] 7:00pm Rainbow Chorus Rehearsal [S] 7:00pm MANNA Meeting [C] Thursday November 7 8:45am MindStretch [C] 1:00pm Park ‘n Dance [G,K,F] 5:45pm Centre for Mindfulness Studies [C] 7:30pm Choir Practice [M] Saturday November 9 10:00am Progressive Christianity [202] 1:00pm Rainbow Chorus [S]

Sunday November 10 9:00am Worship Service [C] 10:30am Worship Service [S] 10:30am MANNA Service [F] 3:00pm SWESH [G] 7:00pm Phoenix Jazz Group [S] Monday November 11 Office Closed 11:00am Caroline Harcourt Women’s Group [F] 7:00pm Scouts [F] Tuesday November 12 10:00am GWSA Exercise Program [G] 6:45pm Cubs [G] 7:00pm Worship Committee Meeting [C] 7:00pm Property Committee Meeting [L] 7:00pm Finance Committee Meeting [C] 7:00pm Bell Choir [M] Wednesday November 13 7:45am Men’s Group [F] 9:30am Lightshine Singers [M] 1:30pm Tai Chi [F] 6:30pm Guides [F] 6:45pm Beavers [G] 7:00pm Rainbow Chorus Rehearsal [S] 7:00pm M&P Meeting [L] Thursday November 14 8:45am MindStretch [C] 1:00pm Park ‘n Dance [G,K,F] 5:45pm Centre for Mindfulness Studies [C] 7:00pm OUNRA Meeting [G] 7:30pm Choir Practice [M] Friday November 15 7:00pm Junior Youth Group [F,K,G] Saturday November 16 10:00am Progressive Christianity [202] 12:00pm Wellington Water Watchers [K,G]

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Sunday November 17 9:00am Worship Service [C] 10:30am Worship Service [S] 10:30am MANNA Service [F] 3:00pm SWESH [G] 7:00pm High School Youth Group [F,K,G] Monday November 18 Office Closed 1:30pm Prayer Shawl [202] 7:00pm Women’s Spirituality [F] 7:00pm Scouts [F] Tuesday November 19 10:00am GWSA Exercise Program [G] 11:00am Stroke Recovery Lunch [F/K] 5:00pm U of G Choir Rehearsal [S] 6:45pm Cubs [G] 7:00pm Bell Choir [M] Wednesday November 20 9:30am Lightshine Singers [M] 1:30pm Tai Chi [F] 6:30pm Guides [F] 6:45pm Beavers [G] 7:00pm Council Meeting [C] 7:00pm Rainbow Chorus Rehearsal [S] Thursday November 21 8:45am MindStretch [C] 9:00am All Things Christmas Set-Up [G,F,K] 5:45pm Centre for Mindfulness Studies [C] 7:30pm Choir Practice [M] Friday November 22 9:00am All Things Christmas Set-Up [G,F,K] 8:00pm KW Symphony Concert [S]

Saturday November 23 9:30am All Things Christmas Sale [G,F,K] 10:00am Progressive Christianity [202] 5:00pm TriCounty Carriage Association Meeting [G,K] Sunday November 24 9:00am Worship Service [C] 10:30am Worship Service [S] 10:30am MANNA Service [F] 1:00pm U of G Choir Ensemble [S] 3:00pm SWESH [G] Monday November 25 Office Closed 9:30am Quilting Group [F] 1:30pm Prayer Shawl [202] 7:00pm Scouts [F] Tuesday November 26 10:00am GWSA Exercise Program [G] 5:00pm U of G Choir Rehearsal [S] 6:45pm Cubs [G] 7:00pm Bell Choir [M] Wednesday November 27 9:30am Lightshine Singers [M] 1:30pm Tai Chi [F] 6:30pm Guides [F] 6:45pm Beavers [G] 7:00pm Rainbow Chorus Rehearsal [S] Thursday November 28 8:45am MindStretch [C] 9:00am Chancel Committee [S,C] 1:00pm Park ‘n Dance [G,K,F] 5:45pm Centre for Mindfulness Studies [C] 7:30pm Choir Practice [M] Friday November 29 8:00am Level Up Kids [202] Saturday November 30 7pm Guelph Youth Singers Concert [S]